Homogeneous catalysis at its edge: high-temperature Ru-catalysed amination of alcohols under continuous flow conditions

Abstract

Combining a tubular flow reactor with a robust homogeneous catalyst enabled running the alcohol amination at unique conditions, i. e., very high temperatures at low residence times. Catalytic activities were thus increased to unprecedented values of >900 h−1 in the synthesis of tertiary dimethylalkylamines directly from alcohols with excellent selectivities exceeding 99 %. Furthermore, several alcohols could be converted to the desired tertiary amines.